Zimbabwe

No lack of new experiences in Southern Africa. Last week when at the office I received a phone call from a neighbour saying that Sue was shut out of the flat and could I return as quickly as possible. To get shut out of the house in South Africa can be more complicated than in the UK as on some of the recent Facebook accounts. Sue stepped out of the front door without the key and the door slammed behind her, but only 3 feet in front of her was the typical metal security gate, also locked. So now she was holed up like a bear in a cage hungrily looking through the bars to attract attention and in a space only 3 foot by 3 foot. She was there a full hour before she got the attention of a passing neighbour and I was able to get home and release her. Good job I had a key or we would have been feeding her buns and bananas through the bars!

The next adventure is Zimbabwe, having once been there about 10 years ago which was also an interesting time. In those days Piet and Hettie Dreyer, dear friends of ours, were living in Zimbabwe and ministering there so we went to be with them for 2 weeks and for me to bring some teaching on the End Times. It proved, temporarily at least, to be their End Time because after a week of our being there they had to leave the country at very short notice over a visa issue. They had 2 cars so the only reasonable thing to do was to leave Zimbabwe with them and for me to drive one of the cars into South Africa. We turned into the first camp site we could find in Northern South Africa and simply had a weeks’ holiday with them. The site had an enormous hot thermal pool so life wasn’t too bad. Eventually we got a coach back into Zimbabwe so we could fly home from Harare.

Some time later when Piet and Hettie had got the visa issue sorted and gone back into Zimbabwe we rang them one Sunday afternoon to ask how they were and sensed great excitement as they told us that they had guests staying in the same room we had been in but presently there was a black mamba outside in the hallway. (Don’t cosy up to a black mamba - bad idea - see previous blog). This was the same room that  had a bathroom facility in the garden outside. When Piet first showed it to us he said that if we needed the loo in the night  we should just check the bathroom as we went in to make sure there were no snakes sleeping there overnight. It was the kind of advice to ensure perfect bladder control - we never visited the bathroom at night! Indeed when we were first picked up from the Airport a snake shot across the road in front of the car as Piet shouted excitedly - ‘black mamba’.

And now we are going  back! On Thursday we are due to fly to Victoria Falls, spend a day or so there and then on to Bulawayo and I am booked to preach on Sunday at the NewFrontiers church. This is followed by a week of Leadership Training when I am teaching a group of Elders and Leaders gathering in for an intensive training week. Guess what I’m teaching on? The End Times!

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